holcombe



(No Model.)

'A.- G. HOLGOMBE.

' METHOD OF PRODUCING ELECTRIC RESPONDING SIGNALS- NO. 321,110. Patented June. 30, 1885.

NlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED G. HULCOMBE, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE EQUlTABLE ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

METHOD OF PRODUCING ELECTRIC RESPONDiNG-SlGNALS.

SPECIFEQATION forming part of Letters Patent. No. 321,110, dated June 30, 1885.

Application filed Fl hruary 24, 18-5.

To (6 whom, ii may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED G. HoLooMBE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, county and State of New York, have intented a certain new and Improved Method of Producing Electric Responding- Signals, of which the following is a specification.

This application for Letters Patent for an improved method of reproducing respondingsignals is a division of the subject-matter of the application bearing Serial No. 139,853, and filed August 7, 1884, for improvements in automatic responders for electric circuits. This improvement in the art ofcommunicating or signaling by electrical means consists ofthe application ofan automatically-operated instrument arranged in a local circuit, and constructed to respond to a call from a distant station on the line circuit by causing in said line-circuit induced electric currents of definite determined impulses upon being released or set in motion by a current sent through the line-circuit from the calling-station.

The object of the invention is to facilitate electrical communication or signaling between distant points, so that, on calling up a distant station forthe purpose ofcommunicatingtherewith, or for the purpose of obtaining predetermined signals therefrom, immediately there is received in answer to the call a signal imparting the information as to whether the attendant of the called station is present, or, if absent, the time said called station will be served or any information, according to the purpose to which the responding-instrument is applied and the requirements of the case. These respondingsignals are produced as induced electric currents in the line-circuit by o an instrument adapted to automatically render any of a number of signals when free to operate; and a simple and effective manner of carrying out this idea is to include the responding-instrument in a circuit with a local battery and the primary coil of an inductorium, and to include in the line-circuit the secondary coil of the inductorium and a call apparatus or electromagnetic device adapted to lock the responding-instrument to prevent it 50 from being operated by its contained motor,

(No model.) Patented in England August 27, 1-284, No. l1,715.

and when the responding-instrument is released by means of a current sent over the linecircuit, to actuate the call apparatus or electro magneticlocking device. Currents or electrical impulses flow through theprimary coil of the inductorium from the local battery, which currents or impulses may be of any de sired strength, and induce in the secondary coil of the inductoriuin corresponding currents or electrical impulses of any desired elec- 6 bro-motive force to properly actuate the receiving-instrument at the calling-station.

The electromagnetic device which controls the movement of the automatic respondinginst-ruinent may be of such construction as to 6 ring a bell when operated, so as to notify an attendant at the called station, if any be there present, that the information the responder is set to give has been called for, so that he can reset it to render another signal or leave it to repeat the same signal. when this station is again called, as may be desirable.

It is unnecessary to. here enter into the de tails of the construction and operation of my improved responding-instrument, the same being fully set forth in my previous application for Letters Patent above referred to, and any instrument adapted to auton'iatically give definite signals when free to operate can be used in my improved return-signal system here described, as the operative signaling device, by being connected up with the local battery and primary coil of the inductoriuin-such, for instance, as the instruments described in Letters Patent No. 218,724. granted to William Fix on August 18, 1879, and No. 275,005, granted to F. B. \Vood on April 3, 1883; but to describe my invention more particularly, and to show the arrangement of the devices included in the line and local circuits, I will go now refer to the accompanying diagram drawing. The respondinginstrument a has connected to its make and break signaling device the ends of the conductors a a in a manner which will be well understood. The other end 5 of the conductor a joins one of the terminals of the battery of, the other terminal of which is connected to one end of the primary coil a of the inductoriunl n, the other end of said coil n being joined to the conductor a, thus Ioo completing the local circuit, which is an open circuit, except when closed by the contactsignaling device of the responder a. The line m includes the coil of the electro-magnetic controlling device j, from which it passes to the secondary coil on of the inductorium by the conductor m and to earth. At the other end of the line-circuit is located the electric generator 'v and receivinginstrument m which is represented as a telephonic receiver; but it will be understood that anyinstrument adapted to receive or record signals can be used. The armature of the controlling devicej, which is constructed to lock the mechanism of the responding-instrument a, may be provided with a hammer arranged to strike a bell,j when its armature is actuated to release the responding mechanism. Upon a current being sent over the line on from the electric generator '0, the armature of the controlling device or call apparatus j releases the signaling mechanism of the responder a, which, being operated by the contained motor, makes and breaks the local circuit in a certainprearranged manner, according to the responding-signal it is desired to send to the calling-station. These interrupted currents, passing through the primary coil n, induce in the secondary coil m corresponding electrical impulses, which pass over the line-circuit m, and actuate the receivinginstrument m".

Having now described the nature of my invention and means by which the principles involved may be practically applied, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

That improvement in the art of automatically returning predetermined signals from a called'to a calling station electrically which consists in transmitting electrical impulses from the calling to the called station, causing said electrical impulses to set in motion a predetermined set of additional primary electrical impulses at the called station, which pri- 

